Video Shows Marathon Blast from Inside Marathon Sports Store
Jurors and spectators at Day One of the alleged marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s federal trial were offered a firsthand look into the moments following the 2013 Boston Marathon attack. A surveillance video from the Marathon Sports athletic store played in court showed the blast at the finish line from inside the Boylston Street store.
The silent, two-minute clip shows the entire Marathon Sports storefront shattering, and the brief confusion just before injured spectators began pouring into the building. Store manager Shane O’Hara, who is seen in the video, recounted the store’s response for the courtroom Wednesday.
“It was like a big cannon,’’ he said of the explosion. “We were just trying to get people into the store.’’
O’Hara made tourniquets from shorts and shirts in the store to tie around survivors’ bleeding limbs. “It was like a scene from Saving Private Ryan or Platoon,’’ he said. “It smelled like gun powder and burnt hair.’’
O’Hara was seen among other people dashing in and out of the building, grabbing clothing for tourniquets and directing first responders.
“The thing that haunts me is making decisions, who needed help more,’’ he said. “I remember hearing cries… people saying ‘stay with me, stay with me.’’’
O’Hara was the first witness called to the stand after the trial’s opening arguments, during which the defense said that Tsarnaev did place a bomb at the finish line that day. The 21-year-old’s lawyers also pointed to the influence that the defendant’s now dead brother had over his actions, arguing Tamerlan was the mastermind of the attack.
Cameras are not permitted in court, but live coverage of the trial will resume here today.
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